ART Habens Art Review ART Habens Art Review - Special Issue #89 | Page 181
Caren Kinne
ART Habens
encouraging of each other. Professors were
also supportive, particularly in giving
students the flexibility of experimentation,
and allowing us to find our own way to
achieve our project goals. Little of my project
development process has changed over the
years. I utilize sketchbooks to jot down notes,
and create quick thumbnail sketches to work
out ideas, and later refer back to. It was
during my time in the graduate courses that I
began to hear about the concept of visual
culture. Historically in the art world there is
often an elitist stigma of what constitutes
something to be labeled as art: essentially
traditionalist views of what art is. Hierarchal
categories such as fine art, craft or kitsch are
frequently mentioned. Of course, some of the
most notable artists were the ones who
abandoned the status-quo, were rejected
from the formal salons, or transitioned from
commercial design to a studio practice.
So when I first learned about visual culture it
really resonated with me. Essentially the idea
that art, in one form or another, is all around
us. In the United States, and I am sure many
other industrialized nations around the world,
we are bombarded everyday with visual
imagery and design. From clothing to book
covers, furniture, buildings and landscaping
to TV and cinema and boxes on the shelf at
the grocery store, design and aesthetics are
all around us. Having grown up during the
computer age, I can't help but notice how the
concept of visual culture as only become
more cemented in our world with that
revolution. I am old enough to remember life
before computers, but also young enough to
have had computer class in elementary
school. As technology improved we have only
added additional means to display visual
imagery every day. This combined with the
Post Modern support for appropriation, breaks
so many of the old concepts of what art is or
could be. And that is quite a liberating idea.
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